The Ottawa Senators announced yesterday that they have relieved goaltending coach Eli Wilson (picture: the tall fellow in the middle) of his duties. In a statement, Senators G.M. Bryan Murray explained that the disappointing performances of the team’s goaltenders was the reason for Wilson’s dismissal:

“Performance of the goaltenders in the organization had everything to do with it,” said Murray, reached at the team’s scouting meetings in Florida. “I think Eli was a hard worker and paid a lot attention to it, but for some reason, both at the NHL level and American league level, we felt that the goaltenders weren’t where we thought they were going to be and where they have shown they can be.”

It’s a move that some Senators fans have called for previously, and while I don’t think Watson was blessed with an abundance of quality goaltenders to work with there’s no denying the difficulties the Senators have had finding a goalie to replace, umm…, well actually just plain finding a goaltender.

Side point: how awful is the history of Senators goaltending? Here’s the list of starters:

• 1992-93: Peter Sidorkiewicz, proud owner of an 8-46-3 record and .856 SV%
• 1993-94: Craig Billington, a career backup who managed an .859 SV% in his one year as starter
• 1994-95: Don Beaupre, a decent goalie near the end of his career; he’d be a minor-leaguer just one season after leaving Ottawa
• 1995-99: Damian Rhodes, a run-of-the-mill backup who was claimed by Atlanta when the NHL expanded, where he was outplayed in his first year by Scott Fankhouser (oh yes, the Scott Fankhouser).
• 1999-00: Ron Tugnutt was the 1B to Rhodes 1A for most of his Ottawa career, but the journeyman was solid and occasionally spectacular.
• 2000 Playoffs: Tom Barrasso, at the end of a storied career.
• 2001-04: Patrick Lalime was a decidedly average NHL goaltender.
• 2005-06: Dominik Hasek played well when healthy, but missed a lot of time and bailed in the playoffs, blaming injury.
• 2006-07: Ray Emery was san above average goaltender in his finest NHL season to date.
• 2007-08: Carolina castoff Martin Gerber was good, miserable, and just okay, with the latter as his average.
• 2008-09: Veteran 1B goalie Alex Auld put in a solid season when asked to step in as starter.

When (aside from the 43 games played by Hasek) Ron Tugnutt is the best goalie in franchise history, that’s a bad sign.

Coaching is a business which rightly or wrongly is dependant on results, and the Senators results have not been good this season. Brian Elliott has regressed, while Pascal Leclaire hasn’t bounced back to his 2007-08 form (although in fairness, this isn’t a recent development – he’s struggled in three of the last four seasons). Down in the minors, a trio of goaltenders who might have been expected to do well based on their career records (Mike Brodeur, Andy Chiodo and Chris Holt) have all been mediocre or worse, so this decision shouldn’t come as a surprise.